Superintendent Jette releases updates for week of March 24, 2022

This week’s highlights include World Down Syndrome Day, Assistant Superintendent Finalists Public Introduction – Tonight, Spring & Summer MPS Employment for High School Students, Elementary Art, Collicot Spirit Week, and more.

From The Desk Of The SuperintendentFrom The Desk Of The Superintendent

On Monday, March 21 (3/21) we celebrated World Down Syndrome Day in the Milton Public Schools. 3/21 represents trisomy 21, the medical term for Down Syndrome, which is the third replication of the 21st chromosome. On Monday, many students and staff participated in Rock Your Socks as part of the celebration. Socks are worn because the karyotype of DS chromosomes actually looks like mismatched socks. The silly socks serve as a conversation starter for people to ask questions and to remind them that while things may be different they are still wonderful. In addition to bringing awareness and acceptance of Down Syndrome, this day provides the opportunity to celebrate people with Down Syndrome and all the wonderful contributions they make to society.

One of our Glover teachers was featured on a WHDH news story in conjunction with World Down Syndrome Day this week. You can watch the wonderful, positive story about Ms. Renehan and her best friend Jessie Hankard here. Jessie and Ms. Renehan also shared a video with the Glover community that you can watch here. We are grateful to them for sharing their love for each other with our community!

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This week we also celebrated Crossing Guard Appreciation Day. Thank you to our Crossing Guards who keep our students and staff safe every day, no matter the traffic and weather. We are grateful to them!

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School Committee

The next School Committee meeting is Wednesday, April 6, 2022. As always, all information about attending School Committee meetings can be found on the Town of Milton webpage under School Committee. You can watch regular School Committee meetings live on Milton Access TV online, live on Milton Access cable channels (Comcast 22, RCN 15) or watch on-demand in the days following the meeting.

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The Milton School Committee invites all to participate in the Open Public Hearing to discuss all matters relating to the proposed 2022-2023 Fiscal Budget.

• Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 6:30 p.m.
• Via Zoom;Passcode: 168556; Webinar ID: 811 8269 8756

If you are unable to participate, please feel free to email comments/questions to the Milton School Committee at [email protected].

Important Upcoming Dates

• Mar 24, 25 Forums on Restorative Justice in MPS
• Apr 5 Spring Jazz Night
• Apr 6 Milton School Committee (Budget Hearing)
• Apr 7 Early Release Grades K-12 PD Day
• Apr 8 Wildcat Fun Night
• Apr 12 MHS Cabaret
• Apr 15 Good Friday – No School
• April 18-22 April Recess

The 2022-23 One Page School Year Calendar (Draft) linked here has been approved by the School Committee.  Please note that this calendar is intended as a guide ONLY. It may be necessary to change this schedule to better serve instructional purposes.

Please refer to the District-Wide Calendar of Events for times and details on current events.  In addition,  the 21-22 one page School Year Calendar can be found here. (Updated to reflect the February 4 snow day)

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There are still two in person sessions (tonight, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. and March 25 at noon) to learn about Restorative Justice in the Milton Public Schools.  Restorative Justice is an approach, mindset, and flexible set of practices that put relationships and connection at the heart of a community. All parents and guardians from our Pre-K to 12 schools are invited to meet MPS’s new district-wide Restorative Justice Coach, Adina Schecter, to learn more about how this approach can create transformational change in our school district. Please sign up for the session you will attend so we can plan accordingly. All details and the sign up can be found here.

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Wildcat Fun Night! The MHS Softball Team is hosting a night of organized activities on April 8, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. for all Milton children grades K-5 in the MHS Fieldhouse. $10 per child, come join the fun! Raffles will be available and you can also support the team on their online store.

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From the Milton Coalition: On April 7^th  at 7:00 p.m. in the Milton High School auditorium, join us as we hear from NY Times best-selling author, Jessica Lahey. She brings her years of expertise as an educator and personal experience with addiction to the table as she talks about parenting and how to have conversations with children — from preschool to young adulthood – about all sorts of difficult topics including drugs and alcohol. Jessica Lahey will provide concrete skills and examples that parents can put into practice today that will help foster resilience and a trusting parent–child relationship that can keep kids safe. Local bookseller, Frugal Bookstore, will be selling Jessica Lahey’s books in the lobby before and after the presentation.

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Save the date for the Milton Foundation for Education Celebration on May 7 at 5:00 p.m.! Join the fun with the Kentucky Derby Squares Raffle, on sale now.

• Each square cost $25.
• Individuals can purchase as many squares as they wish.
• Individuals’ names are randomly assigned to squares when purchased.
• Horse numbers will be assigned to the grid randomly before the start of the race.
• The winner will receive $1000 when the board is full. If the board is not full it will become a 50/50 raffle.

How to buy a square: Fill out the Google Form linked here with your name, email, phone and number of squares requested. An email will be sent with details on how to pay and the squares will be assigned. Good luck and thank you for your support of the MFE!

Health And Safety

A Covid vaccine clinic will be held on Saturday, March 26 from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at Pierce Middle School. We are partnering with the Department of Public Health to host school vaccination clinics for eligible children ages 5 and up. There are still 2^nd dose appointments for both  5-11 year olds and 12+ and boosters available . All details and registration information can be found at this link. At the March 5 clinic, 66 total vaccines were administered.

We will continue to provide a weekly summary of COVID cases affecting our schools as reported to DESE in the Superintendent’s blog.  This week’s report was from 3/16-3/23 and MPS reported 6 staff and 15 students as COVID positive. For families or faculty/staff who wish to opt-in for rapid antigen testing kits, please submit this  Opt-In Form for each student to your school nurse.

High School Happenings

There are some terrific part time job opportunities this spring and summer at MPS for students!

School year: Work after school at K-5 After School Enrichment! 

• ASE is looking for Counselors 16 and up to join our team. We are looking for candidates that enjoy working with children, are responsible and are willing to learn and follow the program expectations. All details can be found here. Interested? Please Contact Angie Van Allen, CIT Coordinator at [email protected].

Summer: Work at MSE this summer!

• Spend July working as Red Shirt at MSE, all details are here. ALL applications are due by April 12th at 3 pm. Late applications will not be considered. Please note the following guidelines for qualification and process of acceptance as a Red Shirt Volunteer or Paid staff member. All guidelines and the link to apply are here. You must use your student email address to apply.

Pierce Pages

On March 19, the Pierce Middle School Debate Team participated in the Lumos March Invitational Debate Tournament. Students debated whether or not the United States should lower the voting age for future elections and used the Public Forum Debate format to discuss the positive and negative consequences of lowering the voting age.

Isabella Alba, Tess Carroll, Adam Cheairs, John Griffin, Nailah Hazelwood, Penelope Jain, Avery Squiciarino, and Emily Vogel competed in this tournament and Adam, Isabella, Emily, Nailah, and Penelope received Speaker Awards after earning distinguished scores in debate rounds. Tess and Avery were awarded 3rd place in the tournament for their excellent record after winning multiple successive rounds. The Pierce Debate Team was thrilled to participate in this tournament after several weeks of rigorous practice and preparation, and we look forward to competing again in April.

Inside Our Elementary Schools 

Ms. Bernini shares that Collicot adaptive art students recently made these fabulous ceramic sculptures inspired by the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Students began by rolling a slab of clay to an “oreo stuffing” thickness. Then, students traced a leaf template and placed the clay into a bowl to form a curved shape. With the extra clay, students made beads by rolling “grape” sized clay between their hands and poking a hole through the ball of clay with a wooden dowel. After the pieces were dried and fired in the kiln, students added color. They used an oil resist technique to color the leaf by adding a layer of crayon and oil pastel first and then green watercolor on top. The final step was adding the caterpillar to the leaf by stringing the beads to a pipe cleaner and attaching.

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Over the last two Wednesdays, Tucker 5th graders welcomed the Neponset Rivershed Conservation Association. This two part series focused on water conservation and effects of stormwater on the watershed. It was an engaging program that has already changed our 5th graders daily water habits.

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During art, Collicot and Cunningham 4th graders are working on form and learning how to make a 3D figure out of aluminum foil and plaster. Students manipulated their foil figure to represent a position that shows themselves in an action. Students learned about figurative sculpture and covered their foil figure in plaster gauze to refine their sculpture before adding details. Once their piece dried, students painted, added props and details for a finished look. Finally, students will attach their sculptures to a base which has been decorated to further communicate the activity they have chosen.

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Congratulations to our Future Problem Solver teams who have advanced to the State Bowl!  Two teams – one from Collicot and one from Cunningham  – will compete in the State Bowl on April 7-8. Five teams out of 58 total moved on to the State Bowl and Milton accounts for two of them which speaks to the strength of our FPS program.

Best wishes to the Cunningham Team of Kehdary Noel, Carter Kahn, Violet Shue and the Collicot Team of Ben Nass, Zeke Leary, Luke Powers in the State Bowl. FPS also extended an invitation to one individual student to compete and several brave students put their name in a hat to be selected as the individual. Catheline Daniel is the lucky winner and will compete as an individual.

We are proud of all of our FPS students as these 5th graders have learned and grown so much over the course of the school year. Good luck to all of the competitors!

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Collicot school spirit was in full force during Spirit Week this week! Check out the fun below, with comfy cozy day, sports day, Collicot spirit day, and more!

During Spirit Week, in an epic battle of the ages, a thrilling back and forth game of skill, agility and quite a few travels, the Collicot 5th grade students pulled off a resounding victory over the faculty and staff with a final score of 114-80!

Collicot Site Council presented at School Committee last week and shared a video highlighting the great things happening at school each day. You can check out our Collicot Cardinals at this link. 

Inside Our Elementary Schools

Capacity for Camp Cunningham 2022 has been reached. All programs and waitlists are filled. Thank you to everyone for your patience. We are looking forward to summer 2022!

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Art And Music

Do you have instruments that are no longer used at your home? Please consider donating them to the Milton Music Department! MHS’s chapter of the Tri-M Music Honor Society is holding an instrument drive to collect new or used instruments for use within music programs across the district. We are especially interested in guitars, electric basses, hand drums/percussion instruments, and traditional band & orchestral instruments. Please only donate instruments that are in playable condition or reach out to Ms. Hanna ([email protected]) to discuss special situations. We are unfortunately not able to accept pianos.

If you have an instrument in playable condition that you’d like to donate, you may drop them off at the MHS main entrance on Saturday 4/9 – 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 P.M. (FAME Mattress Fundraiser). If you have any questions or need to arrange an alternate drop-off time, please reach out to Tri-M Faculty Advisor, Julia Hanna at [email protected].

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The FAME Mattress Fundraiser is back! Save the date – more details to follow.

• WHEN: Saturday, April 9th, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
• WHERE: Milton High School Auditorium
• WHAT: Big savings on brand name mattresses, pillows, weighted blankets, sheets, massage chairs and more! Funds raised go to supporting MPS music department programming, festivals and scholarships.

Athletics

Our Winter All-Stars will be released next week, but a huge congratulations to Sophomore Mason Pellegri on winning the Division II Sectional Title, the Division II State Title and finishing 3rd at All-States! Mason was named the Herget MVP for the Bay State Conference and is the first Division II State Champion in over 20 years!

Stay tuned for the full list of our Winter All-Stars, including a couple more Sophomores!

Spring Sports are now underway and you can find schedules at this link. 

Community News

Chess with Mr. Vigorito is back! Classes are offered on Zoom or in person at the Milton Library and Milton High School. International Chess Master David Vigorito has been teaching chess in Milton for over 10 years. He has taught at all 4 elementary schools as well as Milton Academy and St. Agatha’s. Classes begin March 22. All details and registration info can be found here. 

In addition, Chess-a-palooza will take place on Saturday, April 9 at 10 am. Please join us for a fun and friendly chess tournament with International Master David Vigorito. Four round Swiss-style tournament – every player plays all four rounds. Players of all abilities are welcome. All details can be found on www.chesskid.com. Full rules and regulations and registration can be found here.

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MHS Student Reilly Bergin is running a Socks and Underwear Drive to benefit Cradles to Crayons. All details of this great community drive are below.

• When: Monday, April 4th thru Friday, April 8th
• Where: Lobby of the Milton Public Library
• Who: You! Together we can help others in our community.
• What: NEW underwear and socks- sizes newborn to youth
  large (10-12)
• Why: To help clothing insecure children across our home state of Massachusetts!

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TONIGHT: Forbes House Museum Hosts an Authors’ Talk with Patrick Radden Keefe and Evan Hughes tonight. Thursday, March 24, 7:00 pm at Pierce Middle School. Following the discussion, there will be time for Q&A and book signings. Advance ticket purchase encouraged. Tickets: $25/person, or $20/FHM member. To learn more, visit our website. 

The Milton Public School system does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, gender identity, transgender status, gender transitioning, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its programs, activities or operations. These include, but are not limited to, admissions, equal access to programs and activities, employment, provision of and access to programs and services, as well as a selection of volunteers, vendors, and employers recruiting at the Milton Public Schools.  We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, students, volunteers, subcontractors, and vendors. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Human Resources Janet Sheehan, (617) 696- 4808/4809.